


Uncertainty Principle

by sanctuary_for_all



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, First Time, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-03
Updated: 2014-11-03
Packaged: 2018-02-24 00:59:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2562272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No matter how often he swore had no emotions, it seemed as though every single person other than Paige herself were able to read his feelings for her as if they were printed on his forehead. Honestly, he'd thought he was a better liar than this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Uncertainty Principle

It was pizza night, though this time Paige had declared they would be making it themselves instead of ordering in. Walter had gone with her to buy the ingredients, prepared to tell anyone who asked that it was because having two people to carry all the groceries was more efficient. No one had, though Toby was no longer bothering to hide his amusement.

They were early enough that it was only logical to pick up Ralphie on their way back to the warehouse, particularly since Paige had been meaning to talk to Ralph's teacher. "I'll just be a few minutes," she said, smiling like she always did when he held the van door open for her. It was as nonsensical as everything else about social etiquette – was it meant to imply that women were incapable of opening their own doors – but he had realized he would do any number of ridiculous things for the sake of Paige smiling at him. "You can come in with me, if you'd like."

"I probably shouldn't." It was so easy to smile back at her, not that strained twist of muscle it became when he had to fake it for a crowd.  "After the science fair incident, it's probably best for Ralph that I stay out of the way for a little while."

Paige's smile turned into a grin. Before her, Walter had thought the existence of the two different words was merely semantics. 'Maybe you're right." She hesitated, as if weighing out a decision in her mind, then pressed a quick kiss against his cheek. "But Ralph and I were glad you were there."

Walter watched her as she headed into the school, firmly telling himself that the tingling sensation he could still feel in his skin had to be psychosomatic. She disappeared through the front doors only moments before the final bell rang, the students pouring out on their way to busses or their respective parents. One of the teachers walking her students out waved in his general direction – she'd been surprisingly helpful during the science fair incident – and he waved back on the off chance it had been meant for him.

Surprisingly, it seemed to have been, since she began walking towards him once her students had all boarded the bus. "Mr. O'Brien," she said warmly, and Walter took a deep breath and braced himself for social interaction. He searched his memory for her name, finally calling up the sound of Paige's voice saying Ms. Sanchez. "I see you've recovered from the science fair."

Not wanting to risk a smile, he merely tried to keep his voice light and pleasant. "They were only surface injuries. A few bandages and I was fine."

Ms. Sanchez laughed as if he had made a joke. "Well, that's good to hear. It would be bad if we started scaring away parents."

Walter hesitated at that, brain snagging on the word "parents." He didn't know if Paige would like him being misinterpreted as Ralph's father, but it was also entirely possible that it had simply been a convenient term and Walter was projecting his own implications. His own  ... wants. Saying something may simply make the situation more awkward.

Realizing that Ms. Sanchez had started to look alarmed, Walter shook off his thoughts to focus on what she was saying. "...so sorry. I didn't mean to imply anything about yours and Ms. Dineen's marital status – I know that can be a sensitive subject for some people." She touched his arm, lightly enough that he wasn't tempted to flinch away. "Whether a couple chooses to formalize their relationship or not is their business. The important thing is that it's obvious how much you love them both. Just watching you watch them warms my heart."

Walter felt his entire body tense, ready to go into start into the denials he'd had so much practice perfecting by this point. No matter how often he swore had no emotions, it seemed as though every _single_ person other than Paige herself were able to read his feelings for her as if they were printed on his forehead. Honestly, he'd thought he was a better liar than this.

He let out a breath, suddenly tired. Paige wasn't here, and there was no risk to the team no matter what answer he gave. Maybe he could be honest, just this once. "Thank you." The words eased some of the pressure in his chest, making it easier to breathe. "Paige and Ralph are both amazing. I'm lucky to have them in my life."

Ms. Sanchez smiled, clearly pleased by the response, then immediately destroyed any ounce of goodwill she'd engendered in Walter by turning back towards the school's front doors. "Ms. Dineen," she called out, and Walter swallowed back panic as he followed her gaze to find Paige standing several feet away, blinking as if she'd just come out of a paralysis. The teacher, unfortunately, didn't seem to notice. "How lovely to see you. You, too, Ralph." She smiled at him. "I don't know if I had the chance to tell you before, but your project definitely should have won."

Ralph smiled back at the woman, then glanced back up at his mother and tugged on her arm. Paige cleared her throat. "It's great to see you, too, Ms. Sanchez."

The other woman nodded, moving away from the van. "Well, I'll let the three of you get home. I wouldn't want to intrude on family time." She presumably headed back into the school at that point, but the entirety of Walter's attention was focused on Paige as she crossed the distance between them. _Please tell me you didn't hear any of that_ , he thought desperately, but the way her expression suddenly locked into "nothing's wrong" mode made it clear that she must have.   _Please tell me we're still okay._

But rather than let the words out, he asked Ralph about his day as the boy climbs into the back of the van. He then went around the other side to open Paige's door without thinking about it, but this time the smile had a hesitant edge to it that he hated. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "If I'd known people were thinking that, I would have done something about it before now."

Walter's chest clenched. "It's..." He stopped, trying again in the hopes his voice would sound more normal. "It's fine."

When she winced, just a little, he knew he'd said the wrong thing.

000

It turned out Ralph had a substitute from the office staff for the last half of the day – Mrs. Mills had apparently gone home sick at lunch – and Paige had come out just in time to hear Ms. Sanchez say "just watching you watch them warms my heart." She'd _known_ what the teacher had assumed, from the look on Walter's face if nothing else, and had been prepared to rush forward and help him clear up the misunderstanding.

Then he'd said what he had and stopped her in her tracks. _Paige and Ralph are both amazing. I'm lucky to have them in my life._ She hadn't been prepared for it, for the sincerity in his voice or how perfect a comment it was from a man who was in love with a single mother. She was sure Walter had said it just to be kind, a variant of his belief that everyone on the team was special, but under the circumstances it had left her feeling shaky and raw. Ms. Sanchez's comment about "family time" had only knocked her further off her feet.

Because she'd _wanted_ it.  She'd spent months struggling with the fact that Walter was an amazing father figure for Ralph, never undermining her place in his life but giving him so many things she never could have alone. There were few things that appealed to a single mother more, and realizing that Walter was also surprisingly sweet had only made it worse. Not to mention his smile, or the fact that she loved spending time with him. Or the way her skin tingled every time he touched her.

But she had no right to leave people with the wrong impression. She knew he dated – the team had gone into detail about some of Walter's exes, one day when he'd had a meeting with Gabe – and if someone else came along the last thing he would want is an imaginary girlfriend and son. Maybe it wouldn't be an issue at the school, but what if other people were under the same mistaken impression? Had he gotten other comments like this she hadn't realized? She had to make this right, somehow.

And, if the tension in the air as they walked back into the warehouse was any indication, she had to do it soon.

"Behold, our brave hunter-gatherers, returning back to the den with—" Toby cut off his own announcement, expression changing as he got a good look at Walter's face. His gaze slid to Paige, and no matter how hard she tried to project her "nothing's wrong" expression the line between his brows only deepened. "Is everything okay?"

"It's fine," Walter snapped, the tone of his voice enough to make Happy lift her head from whatever she was working on and Sylvester come over from his chalkboard. Ralph was starting to look distressed now, glancing back and forth between her and Walter as if he knew there was an answer to the problem somewhere and he just couldn't find it.

This problem, though, was Paige's responsibility to solve. "No, it's not," she said firmly, making everyone's attention snap to her. She set her portion of the groceries in the kitchen, then turned to Toby."If you guys could get started putting away the groceries, Walter and I will make sure that it _is_ fine by the time we get back downstairs." She looked down at Ralph. "You help them, okay? Walter and I will be right back."

Ralph nodded, expression solemn. Walter set down his own groceries, jaw tight and absolutely no expression on his face. "There's nothing to talk about. There was a misunderstanding earlier, but it's been dealt with."

Toby looked back and forth between them. "You know, that's just what I was going to say. I can feel the emotional stability and sense of enlightened resolution all the way from over here."

Happy stepped forward, whacking Toby on the arm as she went by. "Not helping." Then she turned to Walter with a stern look. "Go fix this. Just looking at you gives me a headache." Her attention then immediately went to Ralph. "Come on. We'll make sure the cupboards get packed for maximum load-bearing while Sylvester re-alphabetizes the spices."

"Which leaves me to supervise," Toby added, giving Paige a supportive smile and Walter a pointed look. "And two other certain someones to get the he—" Another jab from Happy cut him off. "The heck out of the kitchen so they can get their act together."

Paige looked at Walter. He was still so obviously angry, but his eyes looked as miserable as she felt. Seeing it made her chest hurt – she needed to fix this. "Walter." Her voice was soft. "Please."

He sighed, rubbing a hand across his eyes. "Come on," he said finally, already sounding defeated. "Let's get this over with."

She led the way up the stairs, turning around as soon as she was sure they had some privacy. "I'm sorry you got put in that position, and I appreciate the fact that you tried to keep the situation from being more awkward." She spoke quickly, hurrying the words out before what she really wanted to say slipped through. "But I could see how stressed out it made you, and the fact that you were there at all was my fault. Lying is clearly not a good long-term solution, so we need to come up with a better plan to get you out of the situation in case it happens again."

Paige tried to sound brisk, efficient, but Walter was staring at her as if he were trying to figure her out and failing miserably. Then his expression shut down. "This is the sixth time someone has mistaken us for a romantic couple," he said finally.

She winced, refusing to let herself speculate on who it might have been. "Why didn't you say something?"

Several different emotions flickered in Walter's eyes, too fast for her to read. Then he shrugged, clearly trying to pretend it was no big deal. "I'm used to it."

Paige's eyes narrowed. She had no doubt that was just as much of a lie as "I'm fine" always was. "Then why did you look so stressed out after Ms. Sanchez talked to you?"

Walter's jaw tightened again. "Because I knew you'd overheard, and thought you were upset by the assumption."

Which was why he'd been so reluctant to talk to her. Thankfully, this was an easy problem to solve. "Never." Her expression was soft, affection warm inside her chest. "I love having you in my life."

 He went still at that, giving her a suddenly penetrating look. "As a friend?" he asked, voice quiet and more uncertain than she'd ever heard it.

The simple question knocked the breath from Paige's lungs, and for a second all she could do was stare at him. There were a thousand words she wanted to say, every moment of happiness and yearning she'd tried so hard not to think about over the last several months, but she couldn't untangle them enough to make something coherent come out of her mouth.

So she crossed the distance between them, wrapped a hand around his tie, and pulled him down for a kiss. He was frozen for a moment, clearly surprised, and she had just enough time to start worrying before his body eased against hers and he opened up to let her in. His hands settled on her hips as hers lifted to cradle his face, the kiss gentle and searching and more wonderful than she'd imagined.

When they broke apart, she grinned up at him. It felt like butterflies were dancing in her chest. "Does that answer your question?"

Walter inhaled as if he'd just had to remind himself to breathe, still looking a little stunned. "That ... I ...." He gave up, leaning his forehead against Paige's. "Don't let me screw this up," he murmured, sounding fervent. "Please."

Her expression softened as she leaned in for another kiss. "Don't worry," she whispered. "I'm not going anywhere."

As their lips met again, the sound of applause from the stairs made it clear they had an audience. Walter's only response was to pull her closer, deepening the kiss.

Paige wasn't about to argue.

**Author's Note:**

> Come check out my weekly posts and original short fiction on my [blog](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)!


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